What has not been mentioned is almost dropping on student. If in the
grid or
catwalk there should not be anyone without helmet even to the extent of something like crossing guards to prevent people, or a coned off area. In general,
clear the
stage is a term used when working overhead to be used. And in communication of what is going on, everyone in the theater should know what is going on overhead. I never start work overhead when someone is in the area wandering in, warning I'm in the
grid above you
etc. in getting them out of the way.
This is the best fallen
shackle, dropping a light down or tool solution first start. Nobody in the area. Everyone knows what you are doing. Stoppage of work if someone under you comes into the
drop area without communication that the person below is in a work zone. A
clear barrior zone below you in you, or better yet
safety guard person with helmet protecting the area, or zoned off area you are working in. If someone wandering in is a concern... adjust your
safety level higher. About 30 years of doing tech, I do not remember ever anyone in the area of a dropped tool of
fitting allowed.
If I could get solo time in the space or get anyone to wear a helmet, it would give me a heart attack. This is the kind of space that still has their original 1979 crank up manlift who's clutch if trashed, and although 2-3 more lifts have "replaced" it, and it requires special permission to actually crank it up(as it's main use is a
roll around 6' ladder that weight ~ a ton,) it still gets occasionally used. I've witnessed someone unexpectedly have that thing collapse when the clutch failed back in ~2004. I was recently told that guy had that happen twice, and I had it
drop a couple feet on me at one
point as well. There are 2 much newer versions of it in the space that do 99% of the work, as well as the school having an
electric manlift as well. I suggested several times this year that a dumpster should be positioned outside the
loading dock and run that thing off dock into it. I mean tha
safety standards in the space are so low, that in the shared pictures folder post show(specifically of
strike) had students(that had been heavily involved in set construction(being BOCES students for construction))showed them standing up on the middle
rail of the raised manlifts. I saw it, and my first thought was that these kids have bright futures, as I've seen some sketch crap done even by the bigger contractors here(payloader with forks picks up a
pallet and guys stand on the
pallet as a lift
platform to get 10' off the
ground, not even harnesses present.) We have a man
basket for the
forklift at work, the company training says fall protection is required... bring it up, and we are told that it has a railing, so no fall protection required. I did once have a manager attempt me to the
forklift mast with heavy chains, in such a way as would tighten when raises, as the man
basket was tippy(I'd run over to the plant from the office with the
forklift and quickly grabbed the
basket, with one fork tip going under the pocket it was supposed to be in, someone else jumped on to raise me up,)_ and I realized one fork tip was under the pocket, so his response was to chain me to the mast. I was knocking melting snow overhangs off the roof over doors that day, but got revenge as I literally crushed the ice machine with the massive snow drift I knocked on top of it.
We have no catwalks or
grid access to locations above the pit/
stage without those manlifts, that don't have a ceiling below them. When the
gobo frame was dropped, there were only 2-3 other people in the space, all working on scenic painting; and I was only 8-10ft up doing a trial hang of a
fixture for projecting stars(ultimately ended up using a low front of
stage position.) 1-2 of those people were within 15ft of where I was in the air. As I in no way expected a
gobo frame to fall out of the
fixture(as I usually have to fight to get the frames into the fixtures and these were no exception, I'd expected the friction to hold them in place), it took me a moment to realize that had even dropped.
These productions are so far on the
amateur side of things that there is no real stage management, all communications going through the director, and as most of the production team work at the school while I work in a recycling plant, communications between groups are limited and we have no idea of each others schedules. i.e. this year on Wed. of production week, I went in early at ~8am(I usually start around 9-10am), to get Act 2 programmed(which is usually a Tuesday task, but too many of my own notes meant I didn't get there before rehearsal.) ~9:30, the assistant scenic guy(if I had to give him a position title);formerly the elementary principle, came in and said he had a tour coming in at ~10am. Not a big deal usually, as its usually just a walk-through the set and quick discussion of the show taking maybe an hour or 2, turned into 4 and a half hours of groups coming inf, having a sit down discussion about the show then having a big tour of the set including some of the moving set pieces functioning; It was fun to give the kids a show, but I lost 4:30 of time I'd needed to program the board but somehow I got that all accomplished in the hour between the tours stopped and the cast starting arriving for mic checks and dinner(I need a dark house to program, so not able to program during that time. As we open on Thursday for a 3 night run, all day I had it running through my mind that we would be opening to untested act 2 programming, and as this is only the 3rd show I've done with an EOS console, there would definitely be problems.
Essentially, I'm the entire lighting dept. Everything from hanging the lights to rig design and figuring out cue placement is 99% on me(although the director has often given me a script with her thoughts on cue placement.) I did the cue placement entirely myself, as the director didn't realize up until a week before opening night that I didn't have access to Kami(a school PDF editor they used for the shared PDF for script edits, and she'd already put a bunch of lighting cues in there. Was a bit funny to see the schools Technology coordinator struggling with such a common app as Microsoft OneNote, which is what I'd used for my digital version of the script, having imported the PDF into, was honestly a bit comical.
I've suggested, and they seem interested in bringing in an "intern" from the nearby Crane School of Music to help me next year. Prior to this show, I'd given enough messages saying "I need help" and "you have no one that can replace me", as well as some saying I'm interested in other areas of the show, that in the first production meeting, I was asked if I'd gotten bored and if they needed to find someone else. My reply was that EOS was challenging me to the point it was negatively impacting my ability to do the show to my own standards. They said they'd arrange a training session with Syracuse Stage and Lighting, in late Feb/early-Mar, but that fell through as SSSL had no time for a training session in that time. In hindsight, I figured out what I needed anyway. Prior to my involvement, the director did an overnight or 2 focusing the rig, and it was all run off faders.
As the current director has worked with no one but me for lighting, and I'm well aware she's never had the experience of lighting more than what the rigs I put in can provide. I honestly thought she knew more up until whe told me that the only new fixtues she could identify 3yrs after the upgrade wer propars. She's explained that it's not a matter of interest, but rather the time needs of her other jobs within the school keeping her from learning. In the past, I've thought of taking a "janitor" job at the school which would quickly morph into this as well. 
